Digital Production Comes of Age in the Comic World

by Joseph Szadkowski

Both amateur and professional artists have
explored the computer as a creative tool. The creation of CAD (Computer
Aided Design) software allows architects, engineers and 3D artists
to visualize and manipulate the objects or spatial environment they
are designing. Moreover, the program allows artists to skew virtual
reality, realistic rendering, 3D and behavioral modeling elements
to impact the perception of designs ranging from architectural blueprints
to animation cels. The ability to create computer graphics and effects
has changed the advertising, art, design and multimedia industry.
Digitally created and enhanced images have altered the art gallery.
Even on the newsstand we see evidence of how computers have affected
the pictures we see, the words we read. Computers have changed our
pop art as well, modifying the course of animation early on and more
recently affecting the creation of another visual art form, the comic
book.

It's Not NewShatter (June, 1985) was the first computer-generated comic
book. Published by First Comics, Inc., it was created by Mike Seanz
and Peter Gillis initially, with Charlie Athanas taking the artistic
reins from issue 8 until its conclusion. "The artwork was created
from the ground up on a MacPlus with 1MB of RAM and a couple of 3.5
floppy drives," states Charlie Athanas, artist and President Burning
City, Inc., on his Web site (http://burningcity.com). "The pages were
created in black and white, printed and then colored in the traditional
manner. It was not until the last couple of issues that I was able
to get a stylus and tablet. Prior to that, it was 28 pages of artwork,
every two months, using a mouse to draw with."

A few years later, Pepe Moreno's Batman: Digital Justice was
at the forefront of the movement to combine the art of comic books
with computer technology. Created in 1990 using a Macintosh II, the
book was created with the help of 3D modeling, Raster and Vector painting
and drawing programs, page layout and story telling. The system it
was produced on was an 8 bit/32 bit color board, a system palette
of 16,000,000 possible colors, 8MB of RAM, a removable 45 MB hard
disk drive and a Trinitron monitor.

"When I decided to pursue doing digital comic books, Batman Digital
Justice is the book that stood out," says Mat Broome, artist and
owner of Digital Broome Studios, San Diego (www.digitalbroome.com).
"Not only did other efforts not include vector graphics, but there
are so many dark tones to the book that gave it weight. I was amazed
at what the artist, Pepe Moreno, could do then and I wonder what he
would do with the technology we now have. There is some pretty amazing
stuff out there."

A Way of BusinessIn today's computerized world, the machines that Pepe Moreno and
Charlie Athanas worked on are akin to a fossil in a museum. Today's
more powerful computers are not only stepping in with comics production
but artists are working with sophisticated animation and modeling
tools to draw both characters and backgrounds. This new digital artist
is tasked with not only knowing how to draw, but also the ins and
outs of digital technology.

Mat Broome worked with Jim Lee's Wildstorm studios in 1994 when he
expressed an interest in learning the skills and acquiring the equipment
in order to incorporate three-dimensional modeling tools into comic
book creation. "Unfortunately they did not see the importance of it,"
explains Broome. "So I left and went to school on my own."

He saved money earned -- generating over three million comics sold
annually for publishers like Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Image,
Dark Horse and Acclaim -- and invested in the equipment and two years
of schooling he needed. "I took all the money I had saved and invested
in training and a license to work with Maya 2.5, a program used by
Hollywood studios in the creation of animated feature films," he explains.

That investment totaled in the neighborhood of US$40,000, but as
technology advances prices drop and today's artist could anticipate
an investment of less than $10,000. For this comic artist the investment
in training and tools has lead to his own digital art studio. Founded
in 1996, the concept was to bridge the gap between two-dimensional
illustration and 3D models.

With employees skilled in both the 2D and 3D arts, as well as video
game programming, the group is creating more than just comic books.
The company has also done television advertisements, movie trailers
(including one now appearing for Titan A.E.), DVD custom art
and menu creation, Webisodes for dotcoms, a recent Toonami ad campaign
for Cartoon Network and even more traditional graphic arts such as
a recent logo designed for the RCA recording artist Eve 6. Their client
list includes Time Warner, Electronic Arts, Cartoon Network, Turner
Broadcasting, MTV and FOX Entertainment.